The TCG forum could really use some more activity. To try to generate some, I'd like to start a recurring feature that focuses on a specific Pokemon and all of the cards on which they've appeared. For my first "Spotlight On...," I wanted to feature a Psychic Pokemon but all of the Legendary ones have tons of cards. I settled for focusing on one of the most famous non-Legendary Psychic Pokemon in this pilot run.

~ SPOTLIGHT ON: ALAKAZAM ~In the video games, Alakazam is one of the few Pokemon who has appeared in every region's Pokedex. It is generally famous for being a Special Sweeper and it's remained a particularly popular Pokemon over the years. In the TCG, however, Alakazam went under the radar for many years. This is because cards of its pre-evolution, Kadabra, are suspiciously uncommon due to the recurring threat of lawsuits from Uri Gellar. In fact, due to the rarity of the family in the card game, Alakazam was the last Pokemon to debut in an EX-era Pokemon card when Alakazam was created in EX Crystal Guardians. In the DP-era card game, Alakazam appeared in two sets: one that contained an Abra that could evolve straight into Alakazam, another that contained Pokemon 4, which were considered Basic Pokemon and didn't evolve. Clearly, Kadabra has had a negative effect on Alakazam in the card game.

Alakazam's TCG AppearancesAlakazam has appeared in ten cards as of January 19, 2010. It debuted in the TCG's very first expansion, Base Set, and it was notable for having the Pokemon Power Damage Swap, which could transfer damage counters to other Pokemon on your Bench. Alakazam's next chronological appearance was as a Masaki Campaign card, but this was a Japan-only promotional campaign based on the untranslated Vending Machine set, so this is probably the most obscure Alakazam card. Alakazam closed out Generation I by appearing on two solid cards from the Team Rocket and Gym Challenge expansion sets, the latter of which had its artwork featured on one of Psypoke's earlier banners.

Due to the controversy surrounding Kadabra, Alakazam was pretty low-key during the TCG expansion sets corresponding to the second, third and fourth Generations of Pokemon. Alakazam made appearances in two of Wizards of the Coast's final expansions, Expedition Base Set and Skyridge, and then it virtually disappeared because Kadabra's final TCG appearance was also in the Skyridge set. Fortunately for Alakazam, there are plenty of gimmicks in the TCG, so it returned as a Pokemon STAR (i.e. Shiny Pokemon) in EX Crystal Guardians, which was its only appearance during the TCG's Generation III releases. Alakazam appeared in Mysterious Treasures in the DP era, in which it could evolve straight from Abra, and has most recently appeared in Rising Rivals as a Pokemon 4 belong to Elite Four member Lucian. This particular set also included an Alakazam 4 LV. X card, which was Alakazam's only appearance as a LV. X Pokemon.

Alakazam's artwork is generally average, with its most common artist being TCG mainstay Ken Sugimori, who has drawn three of its cards. The string of artwork on Alakazam's e-Cards is subpar, as is the Masaki campaign card, but Kouki Saitou's Mysterious Treasures card and Mitsuhiro Arita's Rising Rivals artwork bring up Alakazam's score. Still, Tomokazu Komiya hasn't gotten his wretched hands on Alakazam yet, so there are no absolute stinkers amongst this bunch.

Frost Weighs in on TCG AlakazamIn the TCG, Alakazam is a generally solid Pokemon. It is always a Psychic-type Pokemon, which means that its weaknesses are (currently) Darkness-type cards and (previously) other Psychic-type cards. Conversely, it is typically currently resisted by Darkness-type and Metal-cards and, in the past, also Colorless-type cards. Being a Stage 2 Pokemon, its attacks usually have solid power and few drawbacks, although its Basic form, Abra, is usually underwhelming. Before it was phased out of the card game, Alakazam's Stage 1 form was usually decent for its stage as well. Since EX Crystal Guardians, Alakazam has only appeared as a Basic Pokemon, although it is a particularly strong Basic Pokemon. Unfortunately, it might be hard to implement Alakazam into decks because many of its existing cards are not part of the current tournament-legal rotation and/or its cards are usually rare or holographic.

This concludes my Spotlight On test run. What do you think? Would you be interested in additional TCG spotlights?

I'd like to see some more spotlights, too. I know you're a big fan of collecting, and once being almost consumed by my cards, I'd like to read some more. I think it's interesting the little facts that go with an otherwise normal looking card. I had no idea about Kadabra until you mentioned it.

I personally have six Alakazam: Base Set, Team Rocket, Gym Challenge, Expedition, Mysterious Treasures and Rising Rivals. The Mysterious Treasures card has my favorite art (and an Abra that can evolve into an Alakazam is pretty cool), but Base Set Alakazam might be the most fun to use in battle due to its Damage Swap Pokemon Power. It was always fun to pair up Alakazam and Chansey in TCG GB to abuse Damage Swap by loading Chansey up with damage counters.

I might do another spotlight tomorrow or a week from tomorrow. Every week might be overkill. I'll decide tomorrow.

I think it would be awesome if you did another spotlight, too. Have you considered mew? although it's legendary, its a rather rare card to get, or at least, powerful mew cards are rare and hard to get. I have a Mew EX card. That's an Idea, you could focus on EX cards, or perhaps the ever-elusive holofoil ditto card.

~ SPOTLIGHT ON: LUGIA ~In honor of two remakes I don't give a crap about, this week's Spotlight is a Johto Psychic-type: Lugia. In the video games, Lugia is best known as the mascot of Silver and SoulSilver versions, where it rests at the depths of the Whirl Islands. It was also the star of the second movie, had a small three-episode arc in the Johto-based anime, and was one of the first Generation II Pokemon revealed to the public. Lugia has remained a consistently popular and Uber-tier Pokemon since its debut, as demonstrated by its status as the winner of the second Psypoke Idol. As a Psychic/Flying-type that lives underwater, it is also probably one of the only Pokemon that has been represented by three different types in card game: Psychic, Colorless (for Flying) and Water.

Lugia's TCG AppearancesLugia has appeared in fourteen different cards as of February 12, 2010, although many of these were Japanese-exclusive or promotional cards. It debuted in the first expansion set of Generation II, Neo Genesis, as a Colorless holographic card that had an awful attack requiring three different types of energy and for all of them to be discarded after its use. In the next expansion, Neo Revelation, Lugia was featured as a much more dependable Psychic non-holographic rare; its artwork also combined with Ho-oh and Skarmory's to make a complete picture. Lugia made its e-card debut, and its last Generation II-era appearance, as one of the extremely rare Crystal Pokemon cards in the Aquapolis expansion.

Because it was not featured in any of the Generation III games without a Nintendo event, Lugia sat out for much of Generation III's expansion sets, with its only appearances being as both a Psychic rare and a Colorless ex card in EX Unseen Forces. It appeared in the last Generation III-based POP Series expansion as a Psychic rare before making its Generation IV debut as a Colorless holo in Secret Wonders. When the TCG became to promote HeartGold and SoulSilver, Lugia understandably took a major role in the first HGSS-based expansion: it appeared in the set proper as one of the first two sets of LEGEND cards and was featured on the redesigned Water Energy card, reflecting Lugia's connection with Water in the video games and the anime. One of the HGSS Japanese promos (and upcoming English promos) will feature Lugia as a Water-type yet again.

Lugia has also had many promotional and Japanese-exclusive appearances. It was the only Generation II Pokemon to appear in the sequel to the TCG Gameboy game and this card was made into a physical Japanese promo that was included with a copy of the game. It was one of the Japanese "P" Promos, available through JR Rally in 2002, and a Psychic-type Lugia ex was one of the Japanese PLAY Promos as well. "Explosive Birth Lugia," based on the Lugia in the second movie, was also featured in Japan's 10th Movie Commemoration Set, while both Japanese and American players received a ridiculously overpowered "Shadow Lugia" that served as Pokemon XD cross-promotion and wasn't tournament legal.

As of this writing, no artist has illustrated more than one Lugia card. Also, because it's a special Pokemon and has been featured in many promotional and gimmick cards, Lugia's artwork features a lot of 3D rendering. I'm not a big fan of cards that have 3D artwork, but the newer Lugia cards that use this are decent. (The Colorless Lugia ex, on the other hand, is atrocious.) I'm also not a big fan of LEGEND cards in general due to their awful layouts and weird watercolor style. My favorite Lugia is Kouki Saitou's because he's the man when it comes to emulating Ken Sugimori's style without recycling the same old stock art. I also like Aya Kusube's Lugia, but only because it forms a complete picture with the Ho-oh and Skarmory cards from the same set and I love when the TCG artwork does cute little things like that. Masakazu Fukuda's 10th movie promo also earns a special mention for being fierce.

Frost Weighs in on TCG LugiaLike many Legendary Pokemon in the card game, Lugia's cards rarely have a power that matches its ability in the games or the anime. It is always a Basic Pokemon but it has HP, attacks and retreat costs about on par with most good Stage 1s or mediocre Stage 2s. Altogether, Lugia has appeared as a Pokemon LEGEND, as a Pokemon ex twice and in seven different promotional cards. Among its appearances in regular expansion sets, it has only ever been a non-holographic rare TWICE, meaning that Lugia is a very fleeting Pokemon in the card game. Currently, the Secret Wonders and HGSS set/promo Lugia cards are part of the current competitive rotation, but competitive TCG players could just as easy use Psychic, Colorless or Water-type Pokemon cards that are less rare or expensive to acquire.

Though I agree with Frost on Lugia's first appearance in the TCG I always wanted the card, just so I could have the opposite legendary bird that my friend has. Still I want that LEGEND Lugia card, just because I love the artwork on it. To me the details on it are phenomenal.

Lugia has made my top five legendary list since his arrival years ago. The legend cards are different and in some weird way I actually like them. I still collect rare cards so, this one will be a card that I will be looking for.

Out of all the Lugia cards, I couldn't choose between the GB2 and EX Unseen Forces (Kouki Saitou) sets. While I do agree that the layout of the LEGEND cards were horrible and poorly planned, I like the artwork on both Ho-oh and Lugia, as taji said, they're both very detailed.

~ SPOTLIGHT ON: GARDEVOIR ~The first Spotlight was about a Kanto Psychic and the second was about a Johto Psychic, so it only makes sense that the third one be about a Hoenn Psychic Pokemon. Gardevoir was likely the most popular Psychic-type introduced in the third Generation of Pokemon due to her great Special Attack and controversial human-like appearance. In competitive battling, Gardevoir's stats and movepool propelled her to BL in Generation III, but tier definition changes and gameplay additions in Generation IV left Gardevoir sitting in NU. She also hasn't had many appearances in the anime, the main one being in the episode "Do I Hear a Ralts?," but her popularity is well reflected in the TCG, in which she has received three gimmick cards to supplement a decent amount of regular cards.

Gardevoir's TCG AppearancesGardevoir has made nine appearances in the TCG so far, which is a respectable number for a Hoenn Pokemon. Her debut was in the very first Generation III-based expansion set, EX Ruby & Sapphire, and this card came full circle and received a reprint with different artwork in the very last expansion of Generation III, EX Power Keepers. In between, Gardevoir's only other appearance as a regular card in the Generation III expansions was in EX Emerald, but the first Delta Species Gardevoir was a Psychic/Metal card for EX Delta Species. She's also had two more standard cards in the Generation IV expansions: the first came in Secret Wonders and, likely due to her family's inclusion in the expanded Platinum Sinnoh Dex, the second was in Platinum.

As I mentioned previously, Gardevoir's general popularity has been acknowledged in the TCG due to her frequent appearances in the special cards of Generations III and IV. In the second expansion of Generation III, EX Sandstorm, we received the very first Gardevoir ex card; however, another Gardevoir ex, this one a Fire-type Delta Species, was produced toward the end of Generation III in EX Dragon Frontiers. Gardevoir also has been represented in Generation IV's super rare cards, as Gardevoir LV. X was introduced in the Diamond & Pearl Secret Wonders expansion set. This means that Gardevoir was one of the rare Pokemon who received both an ex release (multiple at that) and a LV. X release.

As of this writing, no artist has illustrated more than one Gardevoir card. Much like Lugia, Gardevoir is a popular Pokemon who has warranted a lot of special cards that traditionally use 3D artwork. And, once again, Gardevoir's 3D artwork does very little to flip my switch, so one-third of her cards are "bleh" right off the bat. Midori Harada is a very hit-or-miss artist, with her Gardevoir being one I'd relegate to the "miss" pile before the "hit" pile, and even Kouki Saitou and Mitsuhiro Arita, who are usually very nominal artists, produced very weird- and boring-looking cards, respectively, involving Gardevoir. On the flip side, Ken Sugimori's artwork was awesome once Generation III came along, and the always-incredible female artists Kagemaru Himeno and Atsuko Nishida did Gardevoir justice with her two best TCG pieces. While I prefer Nishida's, you might also recognize Himeno's Gardevoir because the artwork was used in the previous banner on the forum before we changed to the current one.

Frost Weighs in on TCG GardevoirMuch like her Kanto counterpart Alakazam, most of Gardevoir's TCG appearances are as Stage 2 Psychic-type cards, excepting the Delta Species incarnations that were, respectively, Psychic/Metal- and Fire-type cards. Ralts and Kirlia are usually serviceable Basic and Stage 1 Pokemon, so Gardevoir is fine in that regard. She is a generally solid Stage 2 Pokemon, as her Retreat Cost is has always been 1 or 2 energy, which is great for a Stage 2 Pokemon, and her HP in Generation III was a respectable 100, with Generation IV-era cards leaning toward even higher amounts; her attacks have been very solid, although nothing particularly gamebreaking for the eras that Gardevoir was featured in the TCG. However, all of Gardevoir's cards are holographic, if not Super Rare in the case of her ex and LV. X incarnations, so it might be expensive to incorporate her into your deck.

Ho, boy, hope you don't mind I comment on the three of them (trying to catch up here).

AlakazamIt's awesome that you chose Alakazam, because he's one of my favorite 1st Gen Pokemon, and also one of my favorite Psychic-types, even though I never really got to actually have one because I don't have anyone to trade with.

My favorite cards are the ones featuring Lucian (Rising Rivals LV. X and Rising Rivals, mostly the first), not only because I like the artwork, but also because I love Lucian; I also like Skyridge Alakazam, because it looks so darn terrifying in that picture. And also the Expedition Alakazam, mainly because of its sitting Buddha position.

LugiaLugia is an awesome bird, one of my favorite Flying-types and every single realistic fan-art I've seen of this thing I really liked.

Wow, I really like Lugia's 3D illustrations, even though I tend to always give more credit to 2D art. The HGSS Promo card looks very neat, I specially loved the splashing water background. Unseen Forces EX is pretty nice as well; I really like the shading and the dark, ciclying energy surrounding Lugia.

I love the illustation on the PLAY Promo card, even though I can't unsee the unintentional pigeon chest the artist gave Lugia. The Explosive Birth Lugia looks a little silly, trying to look all high and mighty, but the background pretty much saves it.

But the best of the best of the best is the LEGEND card. Amazing artwork there, and a very interesting card design.

GardevoirMy favorite Psychic-type after Mewtwo. I like most of her cards.

I like her pose in EX Emerald, but I don't like the background so much.

I like the whole old, calm atmosphere in EX Delta Species. And she kinda looks cute in that picture.

Her 3D cards don't look so bad either. I don't like the background in EX Sandstorm, but it's nice to actually see her expressing an emotion for a change. I love how she interacts with the Psychic energy in the background in EX Dragon Frontiers. And I like Secret Wonders LV. X for a reason I don't really know; I guess it's because she looks like a toy figurine or something.

But my favorite is Secret Wonders, because she just looks so darn adorable with that cute smile and all surrounded by pretty flowers.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum